Rapid Fire: Notre Dame Green Game, Benjamin Morrison's Health, Danny Kanell Doubts Notre Dame

Jesse are you ready for Rapid Fire let's do this fill in the blank it's blank that Notre Dame has announced the September 28th game against Louisville as their Irish wear green game to me it's sweet sweet revenge because I think there's a bitter taste on their mouth from Louisville last year that was a big game obviously underperformed and it had you know a lot of consequential impacts on the season if you ask me um and so I think that this show that it's a game that they're taking seriously I know it's like they take every game seriously but I think they want everyone to you know be they want this to be a big game they they want to be able to a avenge or Revenge their loss from last season against Louisville and so the more that you can add to it it adds you know more fan engagement it adds more hype to the game and so I think I think that there is it's more to just wearing green I think that they really want to like I said kind of avenge their loss to Louisville last season they have a chip on their shoulder and they're just adding more fuel to the fire by making at the green game I do think it's interesting that the green game the Louisville game is going to be the game that is not on actual NBC it's gonna only stream on peacock so there's that but you know PE I I saw some people asking you know like does this mean that they're wearing green in all likelihood it does I think that that's what you know that's how they've done it the last couple of years and I I like the way they've done it this is what I said a few years ago that they should do and that's what they've been doing the last couple times is pick a game this is going to be the green game and the team make it a surprise don't not everyone's speculating oh are they gonna come out in the green uniform just let it be known exactly like the expectations be known let everyone know in advance because it's September the weather's still warmer fans can wear their green shirts you can sell plenty of green t-shirts and all that different kind of stuff and everybody has fun with the greenness interesting Chief Brody man Chief Brody is like the fun guy at the party he's tired of videos to be honest he wants more playoff appearances and fewer videos I mean you know I I I guess Brody is is one of these guys that like thinks that Marcus Freeman is never supposed to sleep and you know he's only supposed to be out there you know like coaching and crunching film 247 you're not supposed to do anything you know people like recruits love the green too a promotional aspect there's a lot more to it than remember most of the work on these videos is done by the social media Fighting Irish media department they just tell Marcus Freeman where to be and what to say yeah record a couple lines that's pretty much it you know and then they do all the work afterwards so you know you're right about the recruits it's like like we live in a social media world for good or for bad you got to put it out there on social media people like Jersey combinations yeah yeah they like Jersey combinations and they like following this stuff on social media and personally I'd rather see some of this stuff than than a lot of other garbage that you see on social media so I'm good with it all in good fun I'm all in good fun there Chief Brody we know Irish quarterback Benjamin Morrison says he's 100% healthy we got to talk to him today as well we asked him when he got to 100% and somehow I thought that I had this in there went away there it goes I tell you I mean I this thing over time I mean it it's it's it's a constant battle gain your confidence back but I think like I got to put my trust in God and I think I'm I've been I've been healthy for a while now healthy for a while now scaler 1 to 10 Jess how important is it that Benjamin Morris's Morrison is now 100% I mean it's a 10 out of 10 we're talking about all the Amer Corner um and his this wouldn't be as big of a deal had they not opened the season with Texas A&M on the road you need your best experienced quarterback you know in the secondary along with Xavier watts and I you know I'm not saying that I wouldn't trust Christian Gray or Jayden Mickey I just have more trust than benj Benjamin Morrison he's played in big-time games and honestly when you think about it he shows up the most in Big Time games who had interceptions against um you know against uh Clemson I want want to say potentially Ohio state but I might be lying on that one but it's just he he steps up in in the big moments and so you know when the stage gets brighter Benjamin Morrison just shines even more and I think having him you know it's going to be also you know a confident boost for everyone else on the field knowing that his side of the field is going to be shut down so I to me it's a 10 out of 10 he had an interception against USC last USC that's what it was that you were thinking of and obviously he had you know the big game two years that's still the number one quarterback in the draft so yeah yeah yeah that's that's exactly right him and Xavier Watts both went wild in that game it's a 10 out of 10 to me I saw I think Brody said hey you know look my biggest concern with the defense I know a lot of people concerned about the linebackers and you know the Youth of the linebackers and inexperience and all that stuff my biggest concern the whole time has been what the depth of the secondary specifically the corners and if you don't have your All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison then that sets you back even farther in terms of depth especially when you're going on the road to open the season against a good opponent in a hostile environment you need to now like Hobs and more we've seen some good stuff from them in some of these practice videos that Notre D has put out on social media by the way I'm perfectly fine with those videos and I think you should be too uh Brody and everybody else but um I think that it it it's a 10 out of 10 you get Benjamin Morrison you potentially got Christian Gray on the other side I think you're feeling more than good you're feeling really good about this defense if you got him at full health so big time Big Time he did say that you know like they you know they they do still kind of you know pull him back a little bit you know not all the time full boore contact and all that kind of stuff which is understandable because he is still just like four months removed from shoulder surgery but you know he'll be he'll U he'll be a full go when it comes to Texas A&M from everything that he said today so CBS sports's Danny canel was on the r Ryan rosillo podcast this week and he had a thought or two about Notre Dame and their chances for a championship this season here's what Danny canel said KY Leonard coming off an injury going to a new system uh where they just lost their left tackle after losing Joe Al so like Joe Al goes to the Chargers so now they're bumping in another guy and they have to go to Tex A&M week one got Florida State essentially it's a two maybe three game schedule so like I think that's what people are projecting because they should be able to like 10 and two looks very doable if not almost guaranteed but I think they have zero chance of winning the like winning the national championship they're going to be in Riley Leonard is and I love him he's a really good kid he had three passing touchdowns last year three like in the way he's talked about year before I think he had 20 but like he has not exactly lit it up he still needs a lot of development as a passer in a new system okay so there's Danny canel on the Ryan rosillo podcast do you buy or sell any of that you know there there were some different points one he thinks 10 and two uh they're they're not a serious National Championship Contender and obviously he picked apart Riley Leonard and that you know he has some serious concerns about Leonard and he mentioned the offensive line there as well so in or out buy or sell what do you think about what canel's saying um I think 10 and two is the the floor of this team um if if they go 10 and two this season I believe that those are that that would be you know a failed season ultimately so um I I don't think that I think if they go 10 and two they are not serious Championship contenders but I that's not where I see them see them an 11-1 12-0 team and I think what Danny canel forget forgets to mention is that you know offense is one side of the ball they still have a very good defense and a defense that's going to limit a lot of teams so that helps out your offense in terms of you know how much production that they need and so in comparison to last season they were just a couple plays away right and you can say that this offense is going to be better than what last year's offense was going to be with Riley Leonard with Mike denrock I mean yeah there there are definitely questions at the offensive line but when you lose two starters to the to the NFL that's a question for any team so okay that's a fair criticism at the end of the day the Riley Leonard stuff I'm not buying it because he's not he he fails to mention that he was injured last year of course he only had three passings ex yeah exactly so how can you evaluate Riley Leonard Riley Leonard's season last year cannot be evaluated he was injured he was injured the three touchdowns that he mentioned the three touchdowns passes that he mentioned came for the injury um he had four touchdown runs before the injury as well so even though he only threw three touchdown passes he's a dual threat quarterback who had seven total touchdowns through the first five games including a season opening win over the ninth ranked team in the country and on top of that the three games that they had in between Clemson and Notre Dame were blowout wins you know so you've got other guys in there as well and I think I I can't remember if I just mentioned he was completing better than 75% of his passes prior to the injury so like prior to the injury he's completing better than 75% post injury his completion percentage went down he obviously was not able to play in a full game after the injury I mean that's that's the biggest Factor right there is the guy still had seven total touchdowns in the five games he was healthy before he was hurt and the team with the exception you know the team was undefeated going into the Notre Dame game and they lost a close game to the 11th ranked team of the country Notre Dame in that Cas so where did I I I I think I just ran into some connection issues so where did I kind of cut out at I thought that you had just kind of run your you were talking a little bit about Riley Leonard and that's where I picked up as I was talking about Riley Leonard and everything that he did you know again because of the the injury is the biggest thing with Riley Leonard now the other stuffff I mean we started off this show talking about the offensive line and what's going to happen there that's that's a big concern it's I I think it became it became a bigger concern based on what we saw at practice today and the fact that you had a completely different left side of your offensive line out there that's legit but like you said 10 and two would be a disappointing season like that would be the minimal expectation for this is 10 and I don't I think most people their minimal expectation is much above that and I think echoing what you said you can't you can't evaluate Riley Leonard last season if you want to let's look at the opening game against Clemson he won that game against Clemson he found a way to win I think what Danny canel also fails to mention is how 100 yards in that game right you know that's a big part of Leonard's game obviously well to and second I think you have to if you're Denny canel you it's a disservice to not mention you know Mike Dem Brock pairing with Ry Leonard as well because of what he was able to do with jayen Daniels and how Riley Leonard fits kind of that similar profile of jayen Daniels and so again I think it's a little bit lazy because I think it's easy to kind of jump on and just kind of look at things from a more macro level and say oh they lost some offensive lineman oh Riley Leonard still has some question marks okay Danny canel but how about going into last season Riley was on a lot of a lot of NFL Scouts Big Board to go in the first round those things don't just come out of nowhere like his arm is going to develop and now that you have an offensive coordinator that's legit like Mike denrock I think it's fair to say that his passing is going to get better and I think an even you know a big brain type of comment would be to say if Riley Leonard can develop as a passer under Mike denck then this offense could have the ability to go all the way I think that's where all of us as fans are saying is Riley Leonard if they can develop the passing game better than what they did last season with Sam Hartman they will overcome some of those shortcomings and big moments and win the games that they were supposed to win last year and be on the cusp of a 12-0 and 11-1 season a lot of great points and I'm not going to disagree with any of them you know again like the the offensive line that's a legitimate thing but the Riley Leonard stuff I I don't don't I don't necessarily agree with that so canel also has some doubts about Notre Dame's receiving core go back to Jordan Faison today here's what he said about the depth of the Notre Dame receivers I mean we have we have everything we got the big guys the fast guys the quick guys I mean we can hit you from every angle um we could attack Zone attack man and I think it's just it's a testimony to what we've developed over the years and you know to the guys pre from last year that have kind of started that then to now carrying on those same things and yeah got guys that that I could just ball so here's my question you know again canel doubting Notre Dame's receivers obviously a noted a receiver is going to have good things to say about his group my question is are we the Royal Wii right here are we are we overvaluing Notre Ames wide receivers or are they being undervalued nationally which is which is more true I guess I think it's I think it's a combination of both but the issue that you run into is they don't have a proven wide receiver and so at the national level they can't point to someone and say this guy is definitely going to be a stud and produce and and us as fans we see we see it more day in and day out and I think we see the potential of this wide receiver core of okay we we see jayen Greyhouse can can play in the slot and can play out at the outside W wide receiver position we see that Jordan fison can also get on the field and okay how about you know a wide receiver set that pairs fison great house and Chris Mitchell right and so I really liked his comment there because he said we have an answer for everything we have fast guys we have big guys we have Zone beaters we have man beaters um but until everything comes together and we see them play a game and we see how Mike Den Brock moves the pieces around on the offense I think it's fair to say that we are you know we are overvaluing and the the you know the national people are undervaluing because again what proof do they have Notre Dame doesn't have you know the hard stats of this guy's a thous yard receiver and a 60 reception type guy and a 10 touchdown type guy there's just not production there yet but when we see okay this is Mike Deb's offense we know that this is what he wants to do okay we see that there's a really talented group of wide receivers that's fast that's strong that's physical now they just need to go out there and do it and I think that's the important part to me I think I agree with what you're saying I think it's probably a little bit of both I think it's more you know like as we get but but we have what we saw last year to base our opinion on and obviously nationally that's what most people are going on so obviously you know like they're they're not taking as deep a look and they're and like in canel's case the fact that you never even heard him bring up Mike Den Brock and what he was talking about that like when he was picking apart Riley Leonard like the addition of Mike Den Brock here and the fact that Notre Dame is going to have a completely different offense than what they had before and it's going to play more to to to Leonard's skills but also now the fact that like you can see it you can see that there is the depth that you were just talking about and the fact that they've got these different body types to do all these different things but there's speed there as well and what we were what were we talking about with Chris Mitchell a little bit ago the fact that he can take the top off the defense take a safety with him and now that leaves the rest of the field that Leonard can potentially pick apart with these different of receivers that he have so I think it's more that they are being nationally undervalued but you know we probably do overvalue them a little bit but again it goes back to the body of work that we saw last year compared to what this group looks like this year it's just so different that I I I think that really anyone nationally isn't going to be able to truly appreciate it until they're till they get their eyes on it and we've at least exactly we've at least you know been able to see some glimpses of it in the practices that we've been to I think the first few games is really going to change the narrative nationally because like the most important thing is this is just gonna be a completely different looking offense I think everyone has an idea of you know what not DZ looks like the last five or six years um at the offense and wide receiver position like they've been a more dominant you know tight end heavy you know kind of big sets type stuff but this like we talked about this offense is going to be motioning around they're going to find ways to get a lot of different wide receivers on the field depending on what they're trying to accomplish so yeah I mean as a fan I I think it it the the the most important thing is like just have fun with how different this offense is GNA look and I think it's going to change a lot of people's perspectives so we're GNA finish up with some we in we out questions the final we in we out questions that we weren't able to get to the other day because we were on a uh time crunch are you in or out on closing the current college football record books and letting them stand for the rest of history and starting new record books moving forward due to college football playoff expansion in or out on that I'm gonna say out I think that the record books are always kind of continuing like the the NFL didn't end theirs when Cooper cup I think broke the record a few seasons ago but he had you know at least an extra game uh compared to you know some of these other teams so if you really want to look at it you can break down the numbers you know more kind of on a on a like per game basis right I think there's ways to always analyze the numbers but I don't know I I think that the game is always evolving and so there there would there would have to be kind of always like 20 year periods if that's the way you're going to look at because are we going to say that you know record books shouldn't count for running backs back in the day because there were more run-heavy offenses compared to now where there's more spread out kind of passing offenses you know I just don't want to kind of get into that you know constant cycle of finding ways to kind of justify records and stuff like that I just think it's one continuous linear point you just kind of keep going essentially yeah exactly you the the difference in college sports and professional sports is professional sports keeps a regular season record and then you know then anything that comes in the postseason is factored completely separately those stats don't count but you know like even you've seen expansion obviously in all the the professional sports you've seen both expansion of the teams which can you know water down the talent pool to an extent and that helps or hurts different guys uh but at the same time you've also seen an expansion in the number of games that they play just like the NFL has expanded to 17 games and you know all you it you know like you saw all of these records obviously shattered that not shattered but you saw a lot of these single season records fall right away in that first season because you added a game and they're not going to put any asterisks next to them it's just it's part of the way it is and there's already some imbalance anyway because of the fact that these conferences like teams like Alabama that are in the SEC Championship Game consistently Ohio state they're they're all getting an extra game and those all count for their regular seasons as well so I agree with what you're saying I I don't think you alter the record book or put an aster or anything like that you just games get added and you know because not everyone's going to make it to the playoffs either so yeah it's gonna look a you know and like we're already in an era where all these we we're coming out players right now like these sixe guys like Jack Kaiser and Howard cross they're the last of the guys who got the extra Co year of Eligibility this is the final season like if you were a freshman during that Co season this is the final year for that extra season of covid Eligibility so like even for that a lot of Records have been altered and they're you know they're not going back and putting asteris on any of that either in or outout on Notre Dame hosting a college football playoff game this season um I think that's a two that's a double question and to me it's like are they going to go undefeated um I think they're neither an undefeated or an 111 team this season so I don't think 11-1 gets them that five seed I think that you know someone else will get the benefit of the doubt especially because n Dame's not in the conference but but you don't have to be a five seed to host you just have to be five six seven eight so if you're one of those four seeds you you would get to host so with a record of 12-0 or at 11- one I I do think that gets you a top you know eight seed in the country so I'm goingon to say we in on this one because I do think that's what their Al ultimately the record is going to be I just don't see them losing two games this season now that could all change depending after the first game but yeah that's I mean a little more nervous about this offensive line now than I than I was even a couple of days ago but yeah that could have that could obviously our whole opinion on that could change pretty quickly and we might all be drinking a few cocktails but I'm in on him hosting a game because I I like you I think they're either zero loss or one loss and that's going to get them most likely at the very worst in eight spot I would think if they are a one loss Notre Dame team I would think that the worst that they're going to do is be the eight seed and they would get to host in that case true Point salty they haven't consistently been recently Ohio State he called me out on the the Big 10 championship game because they couldn't beat Michigan of course but they've played in they've played in a lot of uh 10 Championship Games anyway in or out on Alabama missing the playoffs this year I'm going to say out I I do believe that they have a pretty favorable schedule for you know a first year head coach and well Alabama is still Alabama there's a ton of Talent on that roster they're still recruiting at a high level I mean their season to me boils down to three games Georgia um LSU and Oklahoma I think they'll they'll they'll they'll beat out Oklahoma um I do think that they'll beat LSU and I I think they're again an 11- one 10-2 team and I think that an 11-1 10-2 Alabama and the SEC um is definitely in the playoffs so I'm gonna say I'm gonna say out on Alabama missing the Playoffs I think I'm I'm gonna go in on a missing the Playoffs actually and Vince and I were trying to do a prediction yesterday that kind of blew up on you know who's going to make the playoff this year I had Alabama out I've you know I'm like I think kayin dor is a good coach but I do think that because of Nick Sabin kind of holding that together last year I I think that Alabama you know like the the the uh the whole was better than the sum of the parts I'm not saying it was a horrible team because it's obviously they're still recruiting but like I'm not completely sold that kin dor can get out of jayen milro what what Savin was able to get out of him last year and I think that there are enough questions with you know what they have this year and you mentioned some of the big games that they have that they're always going to have to play in the SEC so I think Alabama I think Alabama misses I think that they are at least two losses if if not maybe even three losses this season in out on Nebraska having more wins than LSU this season I just have have to say out I know that LSU is going to probably play a tougher schedule um I like what I'm seeing out of Nebraska and Rule I just don't think that you can get that thing flipped around kind of that quickly in year one I think Brian Kelly's a better Coach I think they have more Talent um it's just a matter of if LSU can just be competent on defense this season if they can just be halfway competent I think they're a double digit win team as well I'm out as well Nebraska to me is like the new Texas you know everyone wants to say oh is Nebraska back now this year they were a five and seven team last year that's only one win better than they were the year before that and I I know it's a bunch of close losses but you can go back it's like four years in a row now they've had all these close losses regardless of who the coach is you know so I'm just out on them until they actually prove they deserve for someone to think that they are actually back so I'm gonna I'm going to stick with with LSU I think that they're probably like a nine and3 team at worst this season and I don't see Nebraska getting close to that number just based on the track record that we have on them right now so I've got to be out on that I think that's gonna do it for tonight Jess we breezed through this one we did smoked that show a lot of good stuff again we're supposed toh talk to Marcus Freeman Mike denrock El golden on Saturday so maybe we have you know some some um answers on what this situation is going on with the Notre Dame offensive line right now maybe we find that out a little bit on Saturday so we will find out then appreciate you being here Jess appreciate you as always DK has a question for you have you uh have you declared have you committed one way or another I can't be you know who who knows who's out there listening when it's time it'll be time all right we will wrap it up with that hit the like button if you would and of course subscribe rate and review again appreciate you being here and we will talk to you later on IB Nation Sports Talk